Simple Living = Frugality = Peace of Mind: Personal Finance and Stress Control

Blowin’ in the wind…

Well, it’s time to nail some suspenders onto the old oaken barrel, since that’s what we’ll be wearing now that our shirts are lost.

Called the redoubtable financial advisors this afternoon. It must be said that they sound pretty nonplussed over there. On the other hand, even though they allow that conditions are unprecedented, historic, and weird, they continue to insist that cashing out whatever pittance you have left in the market is a bad idea. One of the senior partners remarked that if the market continues to drop at today’s rate, it will only take about 14 days for it to arrive at zero.

“Is that a logical possibility?” he asked rhetorically.

“No,” he answered himself. If that happened all the stock in the land would be worthless. You could pick up an IBM certificate off the street, for free. This, he believes, does not compute. He and his colleagues are convinced the fall will stop sooner or later and the market will bounce back up.

We shall see.

The answer to another question is also blowing in on the wind: the University Academic Committee is having a little emergency meeting come Monday morning to discuss how to cope with a 20% budget cut. I’m told this is the first step toward the rumored layoffs.

We shall see about that, too. Personally, I no longer care what they decide. I’ve done all I can to protect myself should any such layoffs actually occur: applied for a half-dozen jobs that look like good fits, laid out a plan to pay off the Renovation Loan, and developed a strategy with the financial advisors to weather a period of unemployment.

Interestingly, though, I’ve spoken with a couple of auld acquaintances who, I discovered, happen to be on that committee. They tell me no announcement regarding layoffs of any specific job class was made, nor do they believe my particular set is likely to see blanket layoffs.

There’s not a thing I can do about whatever action the Great Desert University takes. And I am not going to get myself exercised over something I can do nothing about.
Thaes ofereode,thisses swa maeg.